Love will find a way
by XoxMystical mexoX
Summary: Why is Isabel Banks having 'strange thoughts' invade her 'habitually stable' mind? Why is she dreaming about a certain somebody? And more importantly, what will she do now? Expecially when that certain somebody is known to be a charismatic heartbreaker?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you recognise. They all belong to the great J. K. Rowling. All I own are the OC's and the plot. sigh**

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_**Chapter one**_

Isabel Banks stepped onto platform nine and three quarters, emerging from the barrier between platforms nine and ten. A big smile spread over her face as she laid her eyes on the steam engine ready for the journey, the destination of which was her second favourite place in the world. The steam engine resembled a dark red monster from her dreams, puffing smoke in all directions. She just so loved this sight. She inhaled the familiar smell and searched over all the heads for a familiar face.

"Searching for Evans?" she heard someone say behind her. She turned around to find that it was James Potter smiling warmly at her. She smiled at him in return taking in his impressionable appearance. With his messy black hair, hazel eyes behind his glasses sparkling with mischief and his tall and well built frame, James potter was quite good looking indeed. All the girls at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry would heartily agree to that.There were girls swooning over James the Quidditch player, James the ultimate braveheart, James the true and loyal friend, James the transfiguration prodigy, and of course James Potter the danger to Severus Snape.

Isabel and James were not as one would call the best of friends, but they did get along together very well. Isabel could recall the number of times she had played mediator in the historic fights between James and her best friend Lily Evans. Now Lily and James here shared quite a unique relationship. There was James who was so hopelessly in love with Lily Evans and then there was Lily who just couldn't stop yelling herself hoarse whenever James came in her line of vision. He was crazy about her and she loathed him beyond any belief. It was impossible for anybody to persuade Lily to change her mind about James and give him atleast one chance. Isabel had tried that umpteen times before. And it was also impossible to drive James' mind away from Lily and make him give up on her and stop asking her out or showing off whenever he spotted her. Isabel had tried that umpteen times before too. I guess now, one can see why this relationship was unique.

James Potter's affection for Lily Evans intrigued all, mostly the girls. What puzzled them was the fact that James a very handsome and popular boy of Hogwarts could fall for an 'ordinary' girl like Lily. Mind you though, the only thing 'ordinary' about Lily Evans were her looks. She had flaming red hair that reached upto her her shoulders which was usually tied up in a knot behind her neck, a petite frame and startling almond shaped green eyes. She wasn't stunning or anything, but definitely had an aura about herself and a much likeable personality. Also Lily was the cleverest witch of seventh year, which made her stand out of the ordinary. She did study her eyes out, just so that she would be on par with James and his two best friends Sirius black and Remus lupin.

James Potter was rarely seen without the company of his two friends. Also there was a third one, though less popular than the other three and usually shunned to one side. His name happened to be Peter Pettigrew.

Sirius Black. Ahh what could one say about him? He was the one who matched James' popularity, or probably got even more of it, what with his reputation of being a shameless flirt and an absolute womanizer. Sirius Black was the one who had looks to kill for and those that could kill. He had a tall and athletic built, long dark hair that fell over on his forehead making him look too cute to be true and stormy grey eyes, which were a weapon strong enough to drown any girl. He was handsome and By Lord he knew it. Sirius believed in using his looks to the best he could. He dumped his girlfriends every second week. Flavour of the month? Try flavour of the week! He was effortlessly intelligent just like James and belived that studying was a sheer waste of his precious time and energy which he would rather spend in a broom cupboard shagging one of the brainless bimbos of the school.

Then of course there was the smart and well mannered, mama's boy Remus Lupin. He was the more responsible one who got the prefect's batch, excellent in studies, but not as naturally as James and Sirius. He did have to put a lot of hard work in it. He wasn't as popular as James and Sirius but did get his fare share of attention too, espescially from the fairer sex. Remus was glad he had found three best friends in his year. Three loyal and true friends. The ones who did not desert him on knowing his 'furry little problem' (as James liked to call it), but instead devised an extremely dangerous plan just to help him. The problem with Remus was that he was a werewolf. A fact that set him apart from others, which probably was the reason why he seemed so secluded or drawn out to some (Isabel and Lily included).

Remus transformed into a fully fledged werewolf on every full moon night. To give him company and prevent him from biting himself his three friends had become animagi. A feat extremely difficult to achieve, but their determination and intelligence had aided them to go all the way. Remus had never felt more grateful, shocked or angry in his entire life.

And then ofcourse there was Peter Pettigrew. A small watery eyed, pudgy faced boy. Usually shunted to one side and seemingly a misfit in the mauraders. He was not much popular, and usually didn't speak a lot. Makes one wonder how he landed with the other three, right?

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were inseparable. Everyone thought them to be the coolest people of Hogwarts (with the exception of Peter of course). Together the four of them had given themselves a nickname, 'the Mauraders'. That's what they called themselves. Many thought this was a strange name, but loved it anyway.

"Yea. Did you see her?" Isabel asked James, "Oh but of course you will have, right?" she added laughing.

Now Isabel Banks was was herself not quite bad. She had waist long honey blonde hair, olive skin, baby blue eyes and a good figue with curves and planes just at the right places. Isabel was a muggleborn just like her friend Lily

"My eyes can't rest without spotting her." James said with a wink, "there she is." He said pointing over to a group of seventh year girls amidst who was a girl with flaming red hair.

"Still not given up on her?" Isabel asked teasingly, smiling at James though she knew what the answer was going to be.

"Aah Isabel you dissapoint me!" said James with a look of mock dissapointment on his face, "I thought you would have grown wiser in these holidays, but you don't seem to have!"

"Hey! And why is that?" Isabel asked indignantly.

"How many times have i told you before, that James potter giving up on Lily Evans is nothing short of impossible?" James said grinning.

Isabel laughed throwing her head back, "_You_ are impossible James!" she said.

"Isa!" Isabel heard Lily's voice call out.

She turned to see Lily running towards her with a wide smile on her face.

"Hey Lils! It's so good to see you!" Isabel squeeled as Lily smothered her in a tight hug.

"Yea it is!" Lily said holding Isabel at an arms length and looking at her admiringly, "You look so pretty" she said.

"She sure does." Isabel heard a deep seductive familiar voice say.

"Hey Sirius!" Isabel said smiling at Sirius Black who was walking over to them, "how were you're holidays?" she inquired.

"Pretty lousy." Sirius replied with a dark look on his face.

Isabel then instantly regreted asking this question. She knew that Sirius never got along with his parents. He never could indentify with their principles of the superiority of pure bloods over muggleborns, or 'mudbloods' as they frequently were called. Also the fact that Sirius was the first Black heir to be sorted into gryffindor, as all the people in the family were members of slytherin was infuriarating to them.

"Until I moved out that is" Sirius said.

"You moved out?" Isabel asked surprised.

"Yep. I've got an apartment in London. Some uncle of mine left it in my inheritance." Sirius said indifferently.

"Come on Isa lets get on the train." Lily said completely ignoring Sirius and James.

"Alright there Evans?" James asked trying his best to smile as charmingly as he could and ruffling his already messy hair with his hand.

"I was until now." Lily replied coolly, "anyways Isa come on, let's get away from here." She said giving James and Sirius a look of complete dislike.

"Bye guys!" Isabel called out to them as she was being dragged away by Lily.

"Padfoot don't you think Evans was a bit kinder to me this time?" James asked Sirius as soon as the two girls were out of earshot.

"Yea she was." Sirius replied absently not really paying attention. His mind was somewhere else or on _someone else _to be exact.

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Isabel and Lily climbed inside the Hogwarts express and heaved their trunks after them.

"So, how were your holidays?" Isabel asked Lily.

"They were fine," Lily replied as she and Isabel both searched for an empty compartment dragging their trunks behind them, "except for my darling sister Petunia."

"Oh! What did she do now?" Isabel asked perfectly aware of the fact that Lily and her sister never were on good terms.

"She brought home her stupid boyfriend Vernon. He looked a bit intimidating you know. And she kinda of purposely ignored me when he was there. As if I crave for her attention!" Lily scoffed.

"Ah. So is she serious about this Vernon guy?" Isabel asked as Lily closed the door of the second last compartment finding it to be full.

"Yeah, she looked like she was" Lily said as she opened the door of the last compartment to find it empty.

"Where's Claudia?" Isabel asked as Lily and she plopped down on the seats.

"Dunno. But yeah I got an owl from her telling that she went to Paris this summer." Lily said.

"Oh yeah I know. She was really excited about it." Isabel said.

"Yeah. And that probably was because she couldn't wait to meet to meet more goodlooking guys." Lily said with a faint smile on her face.

Isabel smiled too. Claudia Turner could never get tired of feasting her eyes on men. She was an adorable character though, Isabel thought. She was smart, outgoing and possesed talents of flirting which could match Sirius'. Though one could never guess these traits of her personlity just by looking at her. Claudia was short and very thin. Thin to such an extent that she looked frail at times. She had snow white skin, with deep brown eyes and straight black hair upto her shoulders. Inspite of her tiny appearance she was very loud. As a result of her talking habits she landed herself in detention many times.

Isabel, Lily and Claudia were inseparable. They shared everything, EVERYTHING with each other. Over the years their relationship had grown to such a level, that they completely understood each other. They did have their share of disagreements and arguments, but they could never really stay without each other.

"Hey guys! Miss me?" Lily and Isabel turned towards the door to find Claudia standing looking happy as ever.

"Hey Dee!" both Isabel and Lily greeted and stood up to hug their best friend.

After getting tight hugs from both Isabel and Lily, Claudia sat down beside Lily and let out a sigh.

"It's so good to back!" she exclaimed looking cheerful.

"Yeah it is." Isabel agreed.

"Hey and by the way Lily. I invited the mauraders in our compartment; they'll be coming any time now." Claudia said looking at Lily with a wide grin on her face.

Lily groaned out aloud.

"Hey come on Lils. They're not that bad." Isabel said.

"I agree that Remus and Peter are not. But you can't expect me to spend the rest of the journey with the two idiotic ring leaders of the group!" Lily said looking extremely put off.

"Aww come on. They are cool. Its great fun to be with them" Claudia exclaimed.

"Sure" Lily said rolling her eyes.

"Well I don't disagree with the fact that Sirius Black is arrogant. But James is really great once you get to know him." Isabel said.

Though Isabel and Sirius were on speaking terms, she never really appreciated the way he treated girls. She had great self respect, and couldn't believe the girls of the so called 'Sirius Black Fan Club' could so easily lay aside theirs and date Sirius only to get dumped later. The worst thing was that these girls even after being dumped, they never gave up on Sirius. Instead they boasted limitlessly about the night they had spent with Sirius in the broom cupboard where he had snogged them sensless.

"You must be joking! James? Great?" Lily said looking at Isabel her eyes shining with disbelief.

"You need to give him a chance Lily!" Isabel said for god knows what'th time.

"You know I will never do that!" Lily said looking at Isabel angrily. She then turned her face and kept looking determindly out of the window.

Isabel sighed. Even the mention of James' name could get Lily upset. Isabel wondered to herself about when Lily would realise that she and James were meant to be...

**A/N: So what do you think? Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC's and the plot.**

The next fifteen minutes were spent in complete silence. During which Lily refused to look at both Isabel and Claudia. Isabel, who was tired after her many fruitless attempts to get Lily to talk, busied herself in eating the numerous chocolate frogs which she had bought from the witch with the trolley. Claudia's eyelids were starting to droop.

Just as it was beginning to get increasingly boring, their compartment door opened. Lily jumped looking startled, causing Claudia to wake up with a jerk.

"Hello ladies." Said an all too familiar voice.

"Hey Remus!" Claudia exclaimed smiling widely, all traces of drowsiness gone, as he entered the compartment and took a seat beside Isabel.

"Hi." Isabel and Lily greeted him one after the other.

"Where're the rest?" Isabel asked looking at the door as if expecting them to enter.

"I don't think they'll come." Remus said with a sigh. He looked even more tired, Isabel noticed.

"Why?" Claudia asked curiously.

"Let's say, they are much too involved in planning their start of the term prank." Remus said shrugging.

"Oh" Claudia said glancing at Lily, who at the moment had a very dissaproving look on her face.

"And may I ask what prank are they planning now?" Lily asked with her eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry Lily." Remus said with an apologetic look on his face, "can't tell you. I'm a marauder too."

"But you're head boy!" Lily exclaimed pointing at the batch on his chest.

"And you're head girl? Hey, congratulations Lily!" Remus exclaimed. But it was obvious he was desperately trying to change the topic.

"Thanks." Lily said, the briefest of smiles appearing on her face. But then immediately it was replaced with a frown.

"Remus we have to put a stop to this now!" she said animatedly, "It's our responsibility!"

"I'm sorry Lily." Remus said shaking his head, "But I can't divulge the details. But I swear it's not going to harm anyone." Remus said appearing sincere.

"And is Severus Snape included in 'anyone'?" Lily asked skeptically.

Remus went a bit red but said defensively, "Look its not going to harm him alright. It's just..." his voice trailed away feebly.

"It's just?" Lily pressed.

Isabel sighed, "Just lay it off Lily." She said, "Remus is not going to tell you, and you know that. So just forget it."

Lily looked at Isabel reproachfully, "But how can I! What if it's very harmful!"

"I assure you Lily, it isn't. We would never do something which is dangerous." Remus said earnestly looking a tad bit exasperated.

"I agree with Remus. Come on Lily, what's wrong with a bit of fun?" Claudia added.

Lily looked at the three of them for a moment, and then let out a sigh.

"Fine." she muttered, "but it better not be hazardous!" she warned Remus.

"It's not Lily." Remus said wearily.

"Alright." Lily said reluctantly.

"Are we finished now?" Isabel asked a grin on her face.

"I hope so." Remus said a faintly smiling too.

All three of them looked at Lily and after a second she finally smiled, "Alright alright. Maybe I did go a bit overboard with it."

Claudia laughed, and not to mention she looked very relieved.

"So, how were your holidays?" Isabel asked Remus.

"They were Ok. Not that great." Remus said shrugging.

"I bet nobody's were as good as mine!" Isabel exclaimed, and immediately launched into a very detailed description of Italy, and the beautiful places she visited, and not to mention the cute guys she flirted with.

"Lily," Remus said interrupting Claudia's rant, "we've got to get to the prefects compartment in five minutes."

"Ooh yes!" Lily said immediately standing up, "I almost forgot! Come on remus."

Lily and Remus left the compartment discussing the prefects' schedules.

Claudia looked a bit disgruntled, as her description had been not-so-politely interrupted.

"I can't believe it's our last year at Hogwarts." Isabel said closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall behind.

"Boy, it's been seven years? Seems like it were yesterday we entered Hogwarts as first years." Claudia said looking out of the window.

"I sure am gonna miss this place. I mean it's like our last train ride to school." Isabel said a sudden melancholic feeling gripping her. Over the years, Hogwarts had become her second home. And even the simple thought of never coming back here again made her feel uneasy.

They both lapsed into silence for sometime, each reflecting the times spent in school.

Then the compartment door opened.

Isabel was jerked out of her reverie and opened her eyes. She was surprised to see that it was Dave Summers, the seventh year Ravenclaw heartthrob. He was a beater on the ravenclaw team. She never really remembered interacting with him. He was pretty much a nice guy, from what she had heard. He was a charmer, but didn't date much. From what she remembered, he and Sirius had had a big tiff in the fifth year when Sirius had cheated on his sister who was then in the fourth year.

"Did you two see Delia?" he asked.

"Delia?" Claudia asked confused.

"Yeah. My sister?" he asked.

"Oh." Claudia said realization dawning on her face, "Nope."

"Oh. Well, if you see her could you tell her I'm looking for her?" he asked looking at Isabel.

"Sure." Isabel replied.

"Great." He said, a smile forming on his oh-so-gorgeous face, "by the way," he asked Isabel, "You're Isabel Banks right?"

"Err- yeah." Isabel replied, wondering how on the earth did he know her name.

"Great." He said his smile still in place, "See you later then. Bye." Saying this he exited the compartment.

Isabel felt a little confused, what was that all about?

"See you later?" Claudia asked her with eyebrows raised.

Isabel just shrugged.

"You've never spoken to him before have you?" Isabel asked looking a bit suspicious.

"I don't think so. He was my partner for one potions class last year. That's all." Isabel replied.

"Ok." Claudia said slowly.

After a few silent minutes, Claudia spoke up again, "Hey I'm going to Bryce's compartment. Want to come?"

Bryce Wellington was Claudia's current boyfriend.

Isabel shook her head, "No, you go. I want to catch up on my sleep."

"Ok."

Saying a goodbye, Claudia left the compartment.

Isabel sighed. She never really liked to be alone, it made her feel lonely or depressed. But there were a few times when she wanted to be to herself and this was just one of those times.

She closed her eyes, thinking about all the things she would do this year. The N.E.W.T.S. were the most important. No, she was not obsessed about her studies or something, but she definitely did want good grades. And then also there was her ambition of becoming an auror. She would have to work a bit hard this year.

As her eyelids began to get heavy, thoughts of how this year would be flooded her mind. She hoped it would be memorable.

She had no idea how right she was. Not only was her seventh year going to be memorable, but it was going to be her best year in school...

**A/N: Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Own nothing.**

Isabel's stomach gave a loud grumble making a few people in the vicinity turn and look at her confused.

"This sorting seems never-ending." She muttered to herself. She was seated beside Lily and Claudia at the gryffindor table in the great hall.

"Patience my dear, patience." Claudia, who was sitting beside her, said sagely.

"Tell that to my stomach." Isabel muttered as her stomach gave another loud rumble, making Claudia giggle.

Finally after several long painful minutes, the sorting finally was over. Dumbledore stood up to greet all of the students.

"Welcome back, my dear students!" He said, with the familiar twinkle in his eyes. "And to the first years, welcome to the abode of knowledge and life; Hogwarts! Now now, I am not a wicked heartless headmaster to give a long boring speech, when in reality all you want to do now is to gorge on the delicious food! So tuck in your napkins and get on with it!" he said and in one fluid motion sat down back on his chair.

Isabel smiled. She couldn't help but marvel at the man. He was the epitome of success and respect. Reverence was something which came naturally to people when they saw Dumbledore. Also the headmaster just got cooler with every passing year.

The food instantly appeared on the plates, and Isabel tried not to faint with the insane happiness that was bubbling within her at that moment. With a moan of longing she took all what she could on her plate and began to eat hungrily, trying at the same time not to look like she was pigging.

"How you don't put on weight after eating so much is still beyond me" Claudia said looking at Isabel with amusement and shaking her head at the same time.

"Some people are just born with great bodies." Lily said from the other side of Claudia.

"Oh shut up.I do _not_ have a great body!" Isabel said. Honestly, she could never achieve the supermodel stick thin bod like that of Claire Davidson.

Claudia looked at her incredulously, "when would you ever learn to acknowledge your beauty miss Banks?"

"Beauty which is non existant." Isabel replied helping herself with some more mashed potatoes.

As Isabel continued to eat, she felt a weird sensation as though she was being watched. Frowning, she looked down the entire length of the gryffindor table and found herself looking into a pair of grey eyes. Sirius was looking at her with an amused smile on his face.

'What?' she mouthed at him.

He just smiled his charming smile and winked at her, looking away after that.

Confused, Isabel returned back to her plate.

"Hey Isa that-"lily began to speak. But she never got to complete her sentence.

Because at that precise moment there was a piercing scream from the slytherin table.

Isabel's eyes instantly snapped towards the source of the earsplitting noise and she was extremely shocked to say the least. Narcissa Black, (the one who had emitted the scream) stood ten feet away from the slytherin table a mortified look on her face. Slime was oozing out of Severus Snape's plate at an alarming rate. In few seconds half of the slytherin table was covered with gooey, disgusting green slime which ruined the food on the plates. The slytherins disgusted backed away to the wall on the end on the great hall. Snape who had looked momentarily shocked, spat a mouthful of food on the floor, apparently he had eaten a bit of slime by mistake.

Isabel couldn't take it anymore. She and Claudia burst out laughing at the same time.

All the four marauders roared with laughter. But they weren't the only ones the entire great hall was shaking with mirth. Sirius was practically rolling on the floor laughing as hard as he could manage. Lily, Isabel noticed, wore a highly disapproving expression on her face though a smile was threatening to make way to her lips.

It seemed that after 5 minutes nobody was eager to help sort it out. Professor Dumbledore was busy chuckling to himself and seemed to rather enjoy the situation. He made no move whatsoever to stop the chaos that was unfurling in the hall. At last Professor McGonagall stood up her mouth a very thin line. She looked extremely angry.

"This is an act of extreme disgrace and such behavior will NOT be tolerated in the school! Whoever has had the nerve to show such ATROCIOUS behavior will meet me at my office immediately. And I mean it!" she said looking at the four marauders as though she knew they were the ones behind it. "And now all of you will move to your dormitories. The prefects will take charge. And will the head boy kindly not crack his head by laughing so hard and actually perform his duty? And I would expect some kind of assistance from the head girl too. It's a shame that you two have not come to aid in this situation!" she said looking at Remus and Lily with extreme disapproval.

Lily who had been one of the few ones who was not laughing looked hurt and extremely embarrassed. She stood up hastily and made her way towards the first year slytherins trying to help them to get rid of the slime from their cloaks.

Remus who had been laughing hard seeming completely beside himself realised the gravity of McGonagall's comment and immediately went red. He stood up hastily and immediately made way towards the slytherin table removing his wand and muttering the spell to vanish the slime. However slime was oozing out ten times faster from the plate than it was being vanished by him. Hence it did not make much difference whatsoever.

There were loud scraping noises as students began to make way to their dormitories. James had to lift Sirius from the floor as he showed no signs of getting up or stop laughing.

"You did it didn't you?" Isabel asked James as they walked to their common room, grinning a little. She had to admit, she was impressed.

"Strange of you to think that!" James said looking surprised, but the wicked gleam in his eyes gave him away.

"Who thought of it?" Isabel asked Sirius, who was now panting because of laughing so hard.

"You liked it?" he asked grinning from ear to ear.

"Loved it."

"Who else but James Edward Potter could have the brains to come up with this idea?" James exclaimed looking very pleased with himself.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "trust prongs to take all the credit to himself. Actually all of us came up with it."

"Hmm." Claudia said nodding, "I must congratulate all of you then." James and Sirius mock bowed.

"I'm just worried about Remus though." Isabel said, "I just hope he doesn't have to face the wrath of it. With him being the head boy and all."

James waved the statement away with a casual wave of his hand as though it was nothing important or potentially worrying, "Moony is a marauder. He'll handle it better than any of us!"

"Did you see old snivelly's face? Aaah only if I could've taken a picture!" Sirius said his eyes turning glassy and faint glow appearing on his face. Everybody laughed.

"That slime ball deserves every bit of it." Claudia said making a face.

"You think its funny don't you?"

A deep cold voice said from behind them. They all turned around to see who it was. It was Nathan Parkinson a gangly blonde slytherin and a close aide of Severus Snape.

"Oh yes! Didn't you have a good time? I bet the slime was delicious!" Claudia spoke her voice mocking.

The three marauders snickered.

Nathan narrowed his eyes at her, "think you're too smart eh? You hag?" He spoke in a quiet voice.

"Watch your tongue Parkinson!" Isabel said angrily.

"Don't talk to me you mudblood!" Nathan said flaring up at once.

"_Parkinson_!!" James roared taking his wand out and stepping in front of him, "say that once more and you'll regret being born!"

"Oh! How touching. The mudblood and her cronies. Where's the other mudblood? The one after whom you lust? Makes me wonder why you are so keen on dirtying your blood Potter." Nathan spoke sneering.

"YOU BLOODY BAS-!" exclaimed James livid now and made to charge forward completely forgetting his wand. Isabel and Claudia caught the back of his robes with all their might. Sirius on the other hand was simply staring at Nathan eyes burning with fury.

"Get lost Parkinson." Isabel retorted.

Nathan eyed Isabel up and down. She felt dirty and violated and had the sudden urge to cover herself.

"You're a good one. It's sad such a great body is wasted with such dirty blood." He spat.

Isabel instantly felt her body stiffen. Nobody had ever insulted her like that. Her eyes stung with unshed tears. No, she was not going to cry in front of a slytherin. She was not a weak person. No, _no..._ But more then hurt; she felt hot anger boil within her. Nobody insulted her like that. How dare he! But before Isabel could come back with a searing retort, or even before she could react, something surprising happened.

"YOU!" it was not James this time but Sirius had thrown himself over Nathan, his eyes filled with vindictive fury.

Sirius wrestled Nathan down on the ground all forgetting about magic. He balled up his fist and punched him as hard as possible in the stomach. "Take that you son of a -!" Sirius yelled as he repeatedly punched Nathan in the jaw. Nathan howled loudly in pain as he tried his best to push Sirius off.

Isabel was too stunned to react. James was equally angry and Claudia and Isabel had to use all their strength to hold him to prevent him from attacking Nathan like Sirius had. Peter was simply gawking at the whole scene. It would have been appropriate for someone to have clubbed him over his head.

"_What on the earth is going on here_?" a voice came from the end of the corridor. Isabel then realized that the students in the corridor had made a kind of circle around them as though watching something interesting.

Isabel saw that it was Professor Slughorn their potions master, who also happened to be the slytherin house head.

Slughorn ran over to them his pudgy face red and his walrus like mustache quivering. His eyes widened as he saw Sirius and Nathan wrestling in the middle of the corridor.

"What the-" he exclaimed shocked, "Stop it!" he yelled trying to force Sirius and Nathan apart. But Sirius did not seem to hear him.

"I said STOP IT! _Impedimenta! _" Slughorn had his wand out and Sirius was thrown backwards with force.

Sirius was panting, his lip bloody and he was sporting a gash on his cheek. His eyes were still glazed with fury. Isabel had never seen him so angry before, except once when he had gotten in an 'argument' with his younger brother Regulus Black who was in the sixth year and happened to be a slytherin.

Nathan was doubled up on the ground crouched in a fetal position, whimpering and moaning in pain. He had a black eye, a bloody lip and his leg was twisted in an odd angle. Merlin, Isabel had never known Sirius to be so violent without magic.

"That's what you get." Sirius said savagely looking down at Nathan not taking notice of Slughorn who was too shocked to yell, "that's what you get for insulting someone, you fuc-"

"Mr. Black!" Slughorn said loudly looking appalled and shocked, "such language will not be used in the school. I can't but wonder what provoked you to attack Parkinson here the way you did!" Slughorn said shaking his head disapprovingly sounding very angry all the same.

"It was his fault!" James yelled loudly, now that Isabel and Claudia had released him he was massaging his knuckles in a sort of menacing way.

"Now now Mr. Potter! Such kind of behavior will not be tolerated in the school. Merlin knows from where you got that muggle wrestling skill Sirius-" Slughorn said shaking his head oblivious to Nathan' moans of pain.

"Um Professor? Don't you think he should be taken to the hospital wing?" said a timid voice which belonged to Dorcas Meadows. She was a Ravenclaw and was a good friend of Isabel. She was tall with white blonde hair and a long face. It was like her to be practical and analyzing in situations like these.

Slughorn immediately stopped voicing his surprise over Sirius' muggle dueling skills. "Oh yes yes," he said looking very flustered, "Miss Meadows and Mr. Longbottom kindly take him to the hospital wing." Frank Longbottom a tall seventh year Gryffindor with brown hair stepped forward to help Dorcas.

"And Mr. Black here." Slughorn turned to Sirius with narrowed eyes, who was leaning against the wall still panting.

"50 points off from Gryffindor! And you will serve detention with me tomorrow at eight in the evening sharp. Is that clear?" he asked sternly.

Sirius didn't say anything but glared at the spot where Nathan had been some moments ago. Slughorn took it as a yes.

"But professor it was Parkinson's fault. Shouldn't you take points of slytherin as well?" Claudia asked trying not to sound too accusing.

Slughorn recognized her tone of voice and looked at her angrily, "I know very well what to do Miss Turner! 10 points off slytherin. Now that's enough!" he said loudly as Isa opened her mouth to protest, "you will now go back to your dorms or Miss Turner you will join Mr. Black in detention!" that shut her up.

"And Mr. Black, Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew are wanted in Professor McGonagall's office immediately!" with that Slughorn turned and stomped away.

"Why does she want you three?" Claudia questioned quietly to James, who was still practically seething after a few silent minutes.

"I guess she found out that we were the ones behind the prank then." Peter said nervously watching Sirius and James whose faces were glazed with fury.

"Come on." Sirius grunted already moving forward.

James followed him without saying anything.

Isabel grimly watched them go. So gryffindor had lost a massive amount of points even before the year began. Watching Sirius limp away, she felt a little guilty. It had been her, he had defended. She knew Sirius had over reacted, and that he was now in serious trouble. But somewhere deep down, she couldn't help but feel flattered at what he had done in her defence……

**A/N: Review!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Own nothing. **

"So what do you think that was?" Caludia asked quitely.

"What was what?" Isabel asked absently, as she played with the hem of her maroon payjama top.

Isabel and Claudia were seated on her bed with the hangings partially shut. It had been fifteen minutes since they had arrived in the dormitory and the rest of the occupants, namely two girls, Shimoli D'souza and Raleigh Spade had already gone to sleep. Claudia and Isabel were waiting for Lily to arrive. They were whispering in low voices, though that wasn't necessary as they had already cast the _muffliato _spell (one of the mauraders suggestion) around their bed.

"Sirius getting all angry like that." Claudia said.

"I don't know. He was scary." Isabel replied silently.

Claudia nodded. "He wasn't this furious even when he fought with Regulus last year."

Isabel nodded not really knowing what to say.

"But Parkinson deserved every bit of it." Claudia began her face slowly transforming into a mask of anger. And she went on to describe the ways she would torture him if she ever got the chance. Some of them were so explicit that Lily would have had a fit if she ever heard them.

Isabel nodded heartily to Claudia's statements, but in reality she was only half listening. She kept imagining Sirius' face, his eyes filled with rage. A part of her was scared seeing him like that. She had a feeling that it wasn't just Nathan insulting her that had angered him. There was something more to his outburst. What was that something more? She had no idea.

Claudia stopped in the middle of her rant her eyes widening.

"Lily!" she exclaimed looking over Isabel's shoulder.

Isabel turned to find a very tired, very angry and a very dishevelled Lily enter the dormitory. She stomped over to their bed and plopped down beside Claudia, all the while muttering something under her breath.

"What happened?" Isabel asked a little warily.

"Remus and I had to clean all of it!" she hissed angrily.

"And those sodding slytherins made it even harder for us! They wouldn't let me touch them! Kept yelling 'get off mudblood' whenever I tried to help them get rid of the slime off their coats! Even the first years! Can you believe the nerve of them?!"

"Oh." Claudia said. Then she asked grimacing, "err, did McGonagall find who was behind the prank?"

"You think she didn't know?" Lily exclaimed looking furious now. "Oh those jerks! The four of them have a month's detention now! Serves them right I say!"

Isabel and Claudia glanced at each other both not saying anything.

"And what about Remus?" Claudia asked.

"What about him? He got the detention too! Can you believe it? The head boy gets a month's detention on the first day!"

Isabel whistled softly "I bet McGonagall's furious."

"Of course she is! And Professor Slughorn's angry too. Oh, and he was going on about Sirius' muggle dueling skills or something. Did something happen?" Lily asked now looking a bit curious.

"Actually yeah." Isabel replied sighing.

At Lily's questioning look, she plunged into the narration of events which had taken place after the disastrous dinner.

When she had finished, Lily's eyes were as round as saucers.

"Are you serious?" Lily asked incredulously. (A/n: no pun included)

"Unfortunately, yes." Claudia said solemnly.

"What did Slughorn do then?" Lily asked, still looking that she was struggling to believe what Isabel had just told her.

"Oh he was furious all right." Claudia replied looking indifferent.

"Took 50 points off Gryffindor. And Sirius has detention with him." Isabel supplied.

"50 points?" Lily exclaimed looking a bit outraged at first. "Oh well. I can't blame him. But I'm sure he'd have removed more points if it was someone else. Sirius is his favourite student isnt he?" she said, a hint of dissaproval in her voice.

"You are too." Isabel reminded her.

Lily nodded, sighing.

"Well Black deserves the punishment. Nobody asked him to turn into your knight in shining armour."

"A _what_?" Claudia asked her nose scrunched up in confusion.

"Muggle saying." Isabel explained.

"It means that nobody asked Sirius to defend Isabel." Lily said distaste pouring from her words.

"She can perfectly stand up for herself. There was absulotely no need for him to show his strength by beating up Parkinson. Seriously, what a show off!" she scoffed.

"No he wasn't showing off." Claudia started looking incredulous, "the anger in his eyes looked genuine."

"Yeah right!" Lily said derisively.

"I don't think he beat up Parkinson just because he insulted me." Isabel said suddenly surprising even herself.

"What do you mean?" Claudia asked.

"I think there was a bigger, deeper reason for his anger." She said.

An astonished silence greeted her words.

Lily was looking at her skeptically.

"Yeah, and don't you think giving his Africa size ego another huge boost by showing his wrestling skills would be the deeper reason?" She said sarcasm dripping from her words.

Isabel shook her head, Claudia looked exasperated. Lily really hated the mauraders.

"No, that wasn't what I meant. It looked like he was taking out all his frustration on Parkinson. You know, like Parkinson was an outlet for some sort of suppressed anger for him. It was sort of like his breaking point." Isabel spoke not really knowing how she had assesed all this herself.

Claudia whistled softly after a silent moment. "Boy, that's some serious psychoanalysis."

"Why do you think so?" Lily asked looking curious.

"I really don't know." Isabel said truthfully, "I just have a feeling."

After a moments silence Claudia said, "Speaking of feelings, I'm feeling really drowsy right now. We'll talk about this at some other time and not at this ungodly hour. So good night." Saying this she got up from Isabel's bed and moved over to hers, stretching and yawning all the while.

"I agree. I'm done in as well. g'nite." Lily said getting up as well.

Isabel nodded, and after saying good night, fell back exhausted on her bed in a dreamless sleep.

Isabel groaned as the blinding sunlight hit her squarely on the face. She tried to cover her face with the blanket. Keyword being _tried._ Because suddenly the blanket was wrenched out of her grasp.

"Oh no, you don't. And you better get your lazy ass off the bed. Lily and I are already dressed."

Isabel groaned again and rolled over, burying her face in the pillow.

"Well she's definitely not a morning person." Isabel heard Shimoli say.

"Come on Isa, you don't wanna be late on the first day." Lily put in.

"Yeah yeah." Isabel said annoyed. And after a few minutes finally sat up in bed. Her hair was a knotted mess and her eyelids felt as though they weighed a ton. She was _so_ not a morning person.

She wobbled out from her bed. After a huge yawn she went towards the bathroom, on the way colliding with Shimoli, who as usual looked exotically amazing with her Indian looks and thick black hair falling past her shoulders.

Shimoli helped steady Isabel and smirked. "Careful." She said sounding so damn _perky._

Isabel grunted in reply, not yet capable of a coherent sentence.

After fifteen minutes, Isabel was showered, dressed and was headed towards the great hall with her fellow Gryffindors, all of them engrossed in their chatter.

"So Shimmy did you and Jay Patil break up?" asked Raliegh Chase in her usual blunt manner. Her brilliant azure eyes looked hopeful.

Shimoli eyes glinted with amusement, "Nope. We're still very much together."

"He's so hot. You lucky girl!" Claudia said playfully nudging Shimmy in the side.

Shimoli just chuckled and Isabel noticed that she was glowing.

"Well, if you ever get tired of him, don't worry, I'll be ready to take over." Raliegh said albeit jokingly.

"Thanks for the reassurance. But I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon." Shimoli replied.

"Well, then I'll just try Sirius Black instead." Raliegh said flipping her ash-blonde hair over her shoulder. A group of sixth year ravenclaws followed her with their eyes. Raliegh, who had noticed that, took it all in her stride. Guys loved her, and she knew that.

"What about Cody something? Isn't he your boyfriend?" Isabel asked though she already suspected what the answer would be.

"_Was_ my boyfriend. We broke up before summer break." Raliegh said looking nonchalant.

Lily looked at raliegh with a hint of reproach in her eyes, "but Cody was a really nice guy."

"Exactly. That's why I dumped him." Raleigh answered, "I'm tired of really nice guys."

All of them chuckled.

"What about you Lily? Did you finally decide to give James Potter the light of the day?" Shimoli asked.

Lily scoffed, "you think that's possible? That twit just looks like he's got his ass planted on his face."

"Which is very hot I may add." Claudia said.

"What? The ass or the face?" Isabel asked.

"Both." Claudia replied grinning.

All of them except Lily laughed at that.

"I'd have dated him if he wasn't so hung up on you." Raliegh said, winking at a fourth year hufflepuff who had been staring at her. The boy blushed hot pink and stumbled over his feet in his haste to get away from them.

As they entered the great hall, Shimoli bid them goodbye and walked over to the Ravenclaw table to sit with Jay.

The four of them seated themselves on the Gryffindor table all the while continuing their girl talk.

Isabel was helping herself some toast when the group of fourth yer girls sitting in front of her started giggling.

Isbel sighed. _That could only mean one thing..._

And sure enough wheh she looked up she saw the four mauraders enter in the great hall. James and Sirius seemed to be in deep conversation and Remus and peter trailed behind them.

Lily groaned a little as the four settled themselves in the empty space beside Isabel.

"Hey." Isabel greeted Sirius who sat next to her.

He grinned at her and helped himself a massive amount of pancakes.

She winced as she saw that the gash on his cheek had turned a nasty shade of blue.

Sirius who had seen her reaction said, "yeah and it hurts that much too."

Isabel nodded solemnly and said, "But thanks for standing up- I mean _beating up_ for me yesterdsay. Honestly you needn't have done that."

Sirius shrugged, "That bastard deserved it. I would've done it for any other girl anyways. _And_ I had some personal scores to settle"

"Yeah, well... thank's anyways." Isabel replied ignoring the very small twitch of disappointment in her stomach.

Honestly, what was there to be disappointed of?

**A/N: I'm really sorry for the late update. That of course is if anybody is reading this story! Considering the tiny little amount of reviews I'm managing to scrape, I don't think anybody more than one person is. And well if I don't get more reviews, I might discontinure this story on this site. I'm really sorry, but I'm kinda disheartened at the less amount of reviews this story is getting... **


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